Police Check for Unabomber-Zodiac Links
SAN FRANCISCO — FBI officials confirmed Tuesday that they have sent Theodore Kaczynski’s fingerprints to police investigating the Zodiac serial slayings of the late 1960s, but authorities were skeptical of any links.
Nothing found in Kaczynski’s Montana cabin connects him to the man who signed the name “Zodiac†on taunting letters to police, said a Unabomber task force member who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Police say the Zodiac killer murdered five people and wounded two in a series of attacks in the San Francisco Bay Area, although the serial killer claimed 40 slayings in his letters.
The killings eventually stopped, but the Zodiac was never caught and the case has officially remained open. After Kaczynski’s arrest, police investigators approached the FBI.
“The San Francisco Police Department has requested from us any evidence that would possibly assist them in identifying the Zodiac,†FBI spokesman George Grotz said. “At this point what we’re talking about is fingerprints, palm prints, any possible handwriting samples.â€
Since the Unabomber investigation led to Kaczynski’s arrest, amateur sleuths have pointed to coincidences between the cases. Among other things, Kaczynski was in the Bay Area from 1967 to 1969, when the Zodiac killings took place, and all the letters of the word “Zodiac†are contained in his first and last names.
“Some of it is pretty farfetched, but there are enough similarities for us to at least look at it,†said Vince Repetto, a San Francisco homicide investigator.
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